The Grey Nato - Ep 22 - New Watch Alert!!!

Published on Tue, 22 Nov 2016 09:01:21 -0500

Synopsis

Jason Heaton and James Stacey discuss some new watches they recently received, including the Monta Ocean King dive watch, the Unimatic Modelo Uno (U1B), and the Raven Trekker 40. They talk about the design, specifications, and their impressions of these watches from lesser-known brands. Jason also shares his experience of visiting New York City, including meeting people from the watch community, attending events, and touring a shark research boat. James mentions acquiring the Autodromo Group B watch.

In the final notes, Jason recommends the novel "The Freelancers" by Pierre Gobinet, which has an adventure/diving theme. James recommends the Netflix series "Tales by Light", which follows adventure photographers and their projects, shot in stunning 4K resolution.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Welcome to episode 22 of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. I'm Jason Heaton.
James Stacey And I'm James Stacy. Today's topic is actually just about a handful of new watches that Jason and I kind of got in at the same time on coincidence. But before that, I do have a little bit of housekeeping that we need to get to. First up, A listener and friend of the show, Sam Kimpton, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Denver a little while ago, was cool enough to go out and try to get a form 4457 from the U.S. Customs Group, which we spoke about in episode 21. So he went out to get one of these forms for his watches, and he was told it's a single-use form that you get as you leave the country, and it's good for a single exit, entry kind of process. It's not like the Canadian one that I got, which just lists the items, and then it's good. until you don't have that piece of paper anymore. But if you added some extra time before your exit flight, you know, as you leave the US, you could probably be wrapped up in the amount of time customs usually takes you depending on your kind of specific process there. So Sam, thanks so much for that piece of investigative reporting. We really appreciate it. Next up is a huge thank you to everybody who reached out about helping fund TGN. We were blown away by the support and we can't thank any of you enough for your generous spirit. And just your general support of the show. You know, Jason and I really like making the show and we want to keep doing it. You know, we're looking into a Patreon system that would allow interested members of the TGN audience to support the show directly and hopefully get some cool swag in exchange for their support. So, you know, more on that as it develops. We're not in a huge rush. But again, thank you so, so much. You're all the best. So flattered. It was great.
Jason Heaton Yeah, thanks. Thanks so much, everybody. The response was really heartwarming, and we really appreciate your offers of help and all the advice. I think year two of TGN is going to be even better than the first one. So maybe with that, we'll jump into our main topic. Yeah, sure. James, you know, judging by your Instagram feed, you've gotten in some pretty fun and cool watches lately. So why don't you kick things off with maybe one of yours? Which one do you want to start with?
James Stacey Yeah, for sure. So I got two black dial dive watches in and only about three thousand dollars separates them so let's start start with the uh with the expensive one or more expensive one we'll say and that's the monta ocean king uh so i think we've spoken about monta in a previous episode at least i recall speaking about it basically monta is a new watch brand born from the guys behind everest watch bands and their first watch is the ocean king it's a 40 millimeter black dial dive watch, black bezel, and they really swung for the fences in making a luxury level dive watch at a lesser price point than, you know, your kind of hallmark luxury dive watches. So the Ocean King is $35.50 US is its full price. They're doing kind of a deposit system right now, but you get, you know, a 40 millimeter steel diver, It uses the Eterna 3909 movement, which is a new part of their 39 sort of movements and 65-hour power reserve. It comes with a steel bracelet and a rubber strap, a fantastic rubber strap, I might add. And it really is a fantastic watch. It wears really well. It keeps lovely time. I really like the dial design for the most part and a fantastic bezel, beautiful case. There's not much to complain about here, which is kind of exactly what you want to be saying about a watch that cost this much money, because it's expensive. There's, you know, we did a whole episode on sub-thousand dollar watches. And so this is a real kind of change of pace, but one that I've, I've really liked and I was surprised by how much I kind of enjoyed it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's, that's a gutsy, that's a gutsy price to introduce your first watch at. I, you know, I, on the one hand it's, I'm kind of curious to see how they do. And I'm also kind of give them a little hat tip for kind of really jumping in the deep end.
James Stacey Yeah, I agree. I'm having a blast with this watch. I only have it for a couple weeks. I'm definitely going to miss it when it's gone. It just has a, like, they've nailed the kind of fit and finish of all the elements for this price point. You know, there's a lot of big guns at the $3,000 plus price point. Yeah. And some of them have even gone in-house. You think of the Black Bay. And I think they put together a product that kind of deserves to stand there in terms of its overall level of build quality and finish. I think they've done a really nice job with the Ocean King, and I've really enjoyed wearing it. The rubber strap is just outstanding. Maybe unsurprising given the Everest Bands connection, but really, really great stuff.
Jason Heaton It's really kind of refreshing to see a lot of these watches coming out that are really getting to be a much more reasonable size.
James Stacey Yeah, it's 40 millimeters. You get a nice kind of almost pseudo-onion shaped crown, so the actual control of the movement's lovely. 13.8 millimeters thick, including, you know, the height of the crystal. Yeah. And then it's a 20 millimeter lug. So I've had it on NATO's leather, the rubber, the bracelet.
Jason Heaton It's great. I think during our episode about sub thousand dollar watches at that category, I think we talked about how the separation between watches in that category can be really telling when you get to the details, like the way a crown screws in or the way a bezel ratchets, or, you know, how even the loom is applied. It's, it's ironically, it's a little more difficult, I think, to tell the difference or to find differences between watches that are in the price point of the, of the Manta. I think once you get, you know, even above $2,000, you know, much less $3,000, you really have to start looking, you know, maybe not with a loop, but you have to start looking for more subtle details to kind of really start to separate what makes a watch I don't want to say better, because I think a lot of that comes down to aesthetics and what's important to certain people. But, you know, what are some of the really fine details that you think separates this from, say, a watch that's $1,500 cheaper than it?
James Stacey Yeah, I would say the bezel stands out. You know, I've been a long, long time fan of the Pelagos bezel as one of the kind of the finer out there. And this one feels just as good, but it's quieter. And, you know, they have two patents. in the bezel design. It's just a fantastic bezel in terms of its grip, its motion. It's very accurate. It's not especially clicky. The dial has been afforded some even kind of background details like the RIAT or what I guess you could call the chapter ring. Yeah. You know, the ring that raises the edge of the dial to the edge of the crystal is actually cut out for all the markers. Yeah. which is like a detail you wouldn't necessarily see, but when you have these, you know, the, the, uh, three, six, nine, and 12 markers are applied and beautifully cut, uh, very reflective, like, uh, like a gem set, like what you would expect from a luxury sport watch. You know, a lot of them have this sort of detailing and then they kind of fit right into the rear. And it's, uh, it really is kind of a more delicate treatment of what used to just be kind of a tool dial design. And sure, I think it definitely comes down to aesthetics and I think that's where someone's heart may lead them to buy a watch like the Ocean King versus some of its competition.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey But at that price point, you know, you're up there with the really nice stuff from Zinn, from Tudor, you know, a handful of really great kind of well-respected watches and you need to bring the game in terms of the movement Right. In terms of the overall wrist appeal, the fit and finish. And I think they nailed the sizing, like the proportions great. I don't know that much about the 3909, the, you know, these relatively new Eterna sourced movements. Yeah. But it's not Eterna's first time at the game and it's keeping beautiful time. They're offering the standard three-year warranty, but for pre-orders a five-year warranty. So they're clearly on board. in terms of the longevity of the movement, at least from a servicing standpoint for the company, because there's not a lot of people offering a warranty of that length. And then beyond that, within the first three years, you can get a full service of the watch completed if it needs it. So that includes everything from a case refinishing, to a new strap, to movement service, gaskets, seals, all that. Yeah. Kind of unheard of to a certain extent. Like you can tell that they're very sure of their product. Yeah. And I think if it resonates with you in terms of the overall aesthetic, I don't think you could go wrong. It just seems really nicely built. It's a treat to wear. It feels very special, which is a key element at this price point.
Jason Heaton I think that those sort of add on customer service things like that really long warranty and that really sort of full service with the straps and polishing and all that that they're offering. I think those are the things that kind of get overlooked by a lot of people, um, you know, you buy a new watch and all you can really think about is getting it on your wrist and wearing it. You don't necessarily think about three years later, but that, I think that's also a really separating point, especially, you know, it's one more thing that kind of justifies that, that level of price, I suppose.
James Stacey Yeah. And I think, I think it speaks to, they kind of, I think they know that charging $3,500 for a dive watch from a brand that doesn't have a big marketing cache like a Rolex or a Tudor or whatever. Yeah. That's a considerable amount of money to ask somebody to front, not only on your first watch, but on a watch from a brand name that doesn't have a big status assigned to it, which is kind of a thing in watches. Yeah, right. And I think especially when you're getting into a relatively unknown movement with these new Eternas. I mean, we saw them maybe two years ago at Basel. They started to talk about the 39s. Right. I feel like I wrote an article even longer than that ago when they first announced it. Yeah. But to see it start landing in watches, I think it's pretty positive. It offers kind of a, a, a jump up from your ETA, certainly up from a Miota, maybe even above something like a Soprano. You know, I haven't necessarily gone through all the details of the movements, but there are watches that will compete against the Manta that are running in-house and you have to decide if in-house even means much at that price point. Right. I'm not necessarily sure that it does with Nomos, I think it does, because you can see what they put into the movements. But with other brands, it could just be that they didn't want any ETA involvement in their product. So they went ahead and built a movement to the same level as ETA.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I think, from my own perspective, I've kind of, we can do a whole other episode on in-house movements, but I think unless a movement is sort of bringing something new to the table in terms of functionality or a real step up in quality. It doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but I do, I do appreciate the fact that, that Monta is going to Eterna. I mean, Eterna is a brand that I like and it's, um, you know, you're right. It's something different than, than Etta. And I think that the, the, the choices when it comes to sort of Swiss movements these days, if you're moving away from Etta, you know, there just aren't a lot of other choices. There's Soprano or Solita and Eterna has really kind of stepped up. So it is going to be interesting to see which watches those movements trickle into. And it looks like, I was just looking at their website, it looks like this is, I don't know that it's chronometer certified, but it says here that it's chronometer tuned and tested.
James Stacey Yeah, I'm not sure if it comes with a COSC.
Jason Heaton You said it's keeping great time, so that's what really counts.
James Stacey Yeah, and it's certified to 300 meters, if that's going to matter to you.
Jason Heaton It's a cool watch. I mean, I'm so curious about this watch. I think I kind of caught wind of it a while ago. And then when you got yours in and you were saying really good things about it, You know, I've really started to look at it more closely, so it's great to hear your feedback on it. To me, the aesthetic of the watch, it just doesn't, it doesn't break a lot of new ground for me. I think it has a lot of cues from, you know, kind of the classic dive watch style, which is kind of hard to get away from in many respects, but something about the dial fonts are, feel slightly mis-sized to me or misplaced, I guess, or I think the bezel font on the other hand is really cool. It's got almost a slight I don't know. It's not quite italic, but it's, uh, yeah, it's a great font. It has an interesting angle to it.
James Stacey I mean, there's only so much you can do with a black dial diver. Yeah. Legitimately. Like it's, it's kind of a form that we all understand and know. And certainly I think it, if maybe you're either not in the market or you've, you've been around that block a thousand times, like you and I have, it would be hard to get really excited about the aesthetic.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey But I think if you zoom out and consider the black dial diver aesthetic as a whole, um, as a art form or, you know, uh, a concept. I think what they've, what they've managed to do within that concept is great. Yeah. It's not something new. Yeah. But, but I think that it's successful as a product and it's great on wrist.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It looks cool. I mean the bezel, I'm just looking at the bezel now in a photo and, and it almost reminds me a little bit of the more recent 50 fathoms, sort of that wider kind of boldly marked, um, bezel, but I realized or I noticed in one of your Instagram photos, you took a loom shot and the pip is not, it isn't illuminated, is it? Or it's not luminescent?
James Stacey No, the pip on the Ocean King is not luminescent. It's just a standard, a standard run. So if you're considering fairly hardcore night diving, I suppose, this might not be your prime choice. So you might have to rely a little bit more on your torque. Right. It's just part of the standard. It's the same basic engraving as the other markings on the bezel and none of the bezel is loomed in this case. Well, cool. But yeah, and you got in a new dive watch too. You want to tell us about that?
Jason Heaton Yeah, so it just arrived this morning. It's the Unimatic Modelo Uno, which means first model basically, but they're shortening it or sort of branding it as the U1B. Which I kind of have a hard time wrapping my head around because I always associate U1 with a Xin. Yeah, of course. So I'm not sure if other people are going to squawk about that, but it's a really cool watch. I caught wind of this, I don't even remember where I saw it, Instagram or something. And it immediately conjures up that sort of Blancpain Bund look from the 70s. I think Squalor made the case for it. I think the most outstanding feature, the most readily noticeable feature of this watch is the bezel. It's a dive watch, of course, a 300 meter dive watch. But the bezel has a black insert, a fairly slim black insert, which is entirely matte. But instead of having any minute markings on the bezel, it just has the single round little zero marker pip. Which, I don't know. you see so many, like, you know, we just talked about the Manta, you see so many black dial divers with bezels that you get so used to that first 15 minutes are hashed out by the minute and then 15, 30 and 45. Yeah, for sure. Marked. And so in a way, this is kind of, it's almost avant-garde or very almost modernist, even though they're hyper minimal. Yeah. Yeah. Even though there are historical examples of this style or a few of them at least. But it's what really kind of draws me to this.
James Stacey To the look of this watch. It also has the like the bezel insert appears to be like matte almost like Teflon The bezel insert is matte.
Jason Heaton It is a it's an aluminum insert the bezel itself the Is matte the metal surround and then the aluminum insert is also matte. So it kind of It looks really cool when you catch the light kind of on the side It's it's you know, these two silver circles with with just this matte black Ring inside of it and then this tiny little pip Cool crown guard design too. Cool crown guard design. They're sort of little, the watch itself is very angular. So it sort of has a, like I said, it sort of has this squalor feel to it, mainly because of the bezel. And it kind of reminds me a lot of those seventies squalor watches, but if you look at it in profile, it, it really is, I don't even know how to describe it. There's a little bit of, little bit of kind of IWC aesthetic in it, just the way it's kind of very geometric. There aren't a lot of, There isn't any sort of curvature to it. But yeah, the crown guards are kind of stubby and triangular and they sort of pop out. And then the crown itself is kind of a short crown. It's not the easiest crown to grip, but when you screw it in, it's, it's completely flush right across from the crown guard. So it's really well protected. It's a, like a 41 and a half millimeter diameter, at least according to the drawings that they have on their website. But the bezel is, it's a thin coin edge bezel, very much like the Squala 1521 that we've talked about in the past. And what's cool is that the bezel is slightly wider than the case itself. So when you grip it, you know, you're not getting case, you're getting the bezel. 49 millimeters lug to lug. So I think it'll be pretty versatile on a lot of wrists. 13 and a half millimeters tall, which it sits slightly tall on the wrist, but I think it's because, well, for one thing, the watch came on a NATO strap and I switched it to a gray NATO naturally. Nice. Which makes the watch sit up a little taller, but the case back itself, They have it listed as like a two millimeter case back. Oh yeah, look at that. It kind of adds some stack height to the watch. And then there's a slight dome to the crystal. And viewed from the side, it's cool. But the case, when you look at it in profile, it really doesn't have any curvature. So it doesn't really wrap down around the wrist. It almost sits like flat across your wrist. So I think it might not be the best choice for someone that has smaller wrists. I think you'll get that kind of weird effect where the strap kind of just goes straight down off the sides. You know, with a watch that's this reasonably sized, I think it's going to work really well. It's got a 22 millimeter lugs. So it's kind of that Seiko size where you get like a, like a SKX or something. It's like 41 millimeters in diameter and then 22 millimeter lugs, which I think, I think it's, you know, fits this watch perfectly. So it's kind of a cross between that Bund Blancpain look with the dial and hands of Like the, like the vintage Ben Ruess, the type one, the CIA divers from the, from the 70s.
James Stacey Yeah, definitely that pseudo military sterile dial sort of look.
Jason Heaton Sterile dial. Well, it isn't, what's interesting is it, it looks like a sterile dial because you look at it and the, there's no logo or text at the top on the top half of the dial. They moved all the text to the lower, I don't know, like third of the dial where it just says the name, the depth rating, and then something that I It's kind of the only flaw I see in the design of this. And it says made in Italy, which I think is a little bit sort of cheesy and slightly misleading because, you know, it's got a Seiko movement in it. You know, the watch was assembled in Italy, but I'm guessing they didn't make everything in Italy, but that's kind of a point of debate for, yeah, for sure. It's a lot of manufacturers these days, but, um, it has the ladder style hands and kind of sub style, or, you know, I guess if we go back to the Benrus, that's kind of style. markers except the six is horizontal instead of vertical so it's like they've taken a lot of elements from a lot of sort of well-known classic designs and it sort of meets in this in this watch and I think I think it works really well it has you know I've talked about before that that these inexpensive watches need some character or some elements to it to them that, uh, set them apart. And I think this one aesthetically, you could just tell that whoever designed it really took the time to think it through and like be fresh. You know, they're called, they're kind of pulling at the heartstrings of like vintage watch lovers, but I think they've done something that, that comes out being entirely unique. And, um, you know, like I said, I've only had it for, I don't know, 12 hours now, I think. And, but good price point too. It's great. It's a great price point. It's they're selling it on their website for 450 euros, which, at this point is about $485 US. So, you know, we're talking kind of Seiko SRP level, you know, if you bought that one full price. It does have a Seiko movement in it. It's the NH35A, which I think normally has a date, but this one, they've eliminated the date, which I happen to like. Nice. I love no date watches. Yeah, yeah. It hacks. It's got 41 hours of power reserve. You know, so they're only making 200 of these. It's a, the thing of the Unimatic, sort of hangs their head on is that they say that each one of their models is a unique design and that once it's gone, it's gone. And I think it's one characteristic of them that I kind of draw comparisons to like a Helios as well. The Helios is roughly double the price of this and I think Helios is arguably maybe better made quality wise. But it's that small brand that really tries hard, great designs, kind of draw together some interesting elements. And I think at $485, it's almost an unbeatable watch at that price. You know, if you're kind of looking for an alternative to Seiko, you know, the bezel's fantastic, the crown screws in and out nicely. Yeah, I don't know about timekeeping yet, but it just feels like well worth the price and just a fun watch. I mean, I've already gotten comments, you know, just wearing it around. It's like, It has a very striking look to it.
James Stacey It definitely has like a really defined aesthetic, which I like, and it can be kind of rare at that price point. Yeah. Right. Which is, uh, which is nice. I think it's a great looking piece. One that I, I, you know, I'd be interested to see in person. Cause again, not only just because they're offering it at a really attractive price point for a brand new watch with an automatic movement and a good differentiated design, but also just because I just kind of dig the way it looks overall. And, uh, and, and I like that they're, they're going for something kind of new.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It kind of reminds me a little bit, you know, I used to have one of the Mark II Paradives and yeah, that's one of the watches that I regret, you know, parting with a while back because it was just one of those, that one was, you know, completely sterile. There was no branding on the dial at all, but it just, that one just sort of felt like a watch when you don't want to, you know, you just want to be unassuming and you want something that can take a bit of a beating and has that sort of really, tactical tool-ish sort of look to it. You know, you throw it on and I think this is going to be, this is gonna be that kind of watch, especially on a, on a NATO strap.
James Stacey It's cool. Good, good addition to a good one to have in for review.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. And, and you've got another one that's probably a little closer to this one in terms of price, the Raven.
James Stacey So yeah, so we'd spoken about the Raven Trekker 40 on Episode 21, when we kind of collected a handful of watches under $1,000 that we really like. And I hadn't seen the Trekker in person, but shortly after that episode was kind of in the can and ready to go, it arrived in the mail. So Raven sister brand to Benares, which is now called Steve Rall or StevRall watches. And I've had, like I said, in episode 21, a handful of experience with their watches. So I won't go into that necessarily again, but the Trekker 40 is really, really great. Probably one of the best watches I've had from this group of companies and super wearable, really nice size, great bezel, good crown, nice timekeeping. Overall, I really like the aesthetic. It's kind of a mix of like a dive watch, but has kind of some modern elements. The bezel is kind of like on a Pelagos and then it kind of has a field watch design to the dial and the handset decision. And I have the model RT05, which is a brushed case, no date, and it uses yellow accents. So the minute scale is in yellow, as is the second hand. And I really like it. You know, the bezel's fully loomed. It's a BGW9 loom all around, so that's white with a blue expression. Oh, yeah. Not as aggressively bright as C3, which is generally my favorite for dive watches, but I've actually found that there's enough loom on this dial. to glow nicely. And certainly if you hit it with a UV torch or a, you know, a bright flashlight, it's pretty great. It's super bright. And the watch itself is $650 including your choice of either a rubber strap in a NATO or a leather in a NATO. And I believe they'll be offering a bracelet in the future. And then they offer a NATO only option for $610. All of that leads me to say it's Like I said, just a really nice watch for the money. I could tell, you know, within a day of putting it on and wearing it around. I really like it. It's legible. The 40 millimeters is really, really just a nice size for a sport watch. I mean, maybe it's just because as I was getting into watches now many years ago, that's when there was kind of an explosion in size. Yeah. And we're now just starting to tip back closer to 40. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe I've just made that up in my mind, but 40 does just work really well. For a sport watch, you still get enough dial, you still get enough bezel. In this case, the bezel has a lovely kind of coin edge that's really easy to grip. It has a slightly exposed box crystal, like a sapphire crystal. Yeah. Massive crown on that. Yeah. Great big crown, kind of sits out from the case, not on like a Tudor style crown. Yeah. Like on a handful of their watches now, you get drilled lugs. I think Raven should just be really proud of this. Much like with the Manta, I'm really excited to put the review together and get it on a blog to watch, because I think these are both really interesting watches. I don't think they'll necessarily capture the same crowd. Yeah. Aside from maybe like dive watch enthusiasts. But the Trekker is exactly what you would expect from a brand like Raven, Stevrol, with a lot of experience making watches under $1,000.
Jason Heaton Well, I think watches at this price point, we've talked about it before, when you're paying less than a thousand or 650 for a dive watch like this. It's kind of, it's very freeing because it's the kind of watch that you feel like you just want to throw on and go to go do cool stuff with, you know, you're not, you're not overly concerned about it. It almost inspires you to go do things because it, you know, the drilled lugs looks great on NATO. It's got that little flash of yellow. This watch is, it's nothing but fun. You know, it's like you just want to put it on and go bash it around a little bit. Yeah, I think it's really cool. And the more I've seen pictures of it, the more I've warmed up to it. Initially, I think I'd seen sort of a mock-up or a drawing of it, and it kind of looked flat. But when I see it, you know, in the pictures you've taken and the pictures on their website, it really pops.
James Stacey Yeah, I think the yellow is a little bit of the secret to that. You know, I'm not generally much for color, although I have recently been kind of getting more and more into some yellow. It's really wearable. It's chunky without being big, which also, maybe it's the bezel, it just keeps kind of reminding me, but the chunky without being big also works for the Pelagos.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Where it kind of, on your wrist, it has the kind of positioning of a larger watch, but then as you're actually moving around and wearing it, it wears to its actual size. And in this case, that 40 millimeters, like I said, it's just a really nice accessible size. And it's a, it's a, it's a smart design and I really liked that you can get it without a date. Yeah. It, uh, it, it feels great and it wears well.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And when I look at it, you know, we were, I was talking about the, you know, sort of the Manta, um, aesthetics, maybe not appealing to me as much, but when I look at this, this Raven at the Trekker, it, it's kind of, it's very unique. It, it really doesn't really remind me of any other watch. Like no other watch really comes to mind when I see it. And that's kind of, that's kind of rare these days. I mean, I think there's a little, there's like a little bit of Tudor in it, um, but not, Not a lot, I guess.
James Stacey I think it's just the bezel that speaks to me, and even the bezel isn't that close. It's just the kind of balance it strikes.
Unknown Yeah, yeah.
James Stacey But otherwise, I would fully agree. They've kind of blended a few different strong watch designs into a nice package that's pretty accessible.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. Very cool.
James Stacey Yeah, cool piece. I'm happy to have it in. It's been fun to wear. Like the Manta, I'll miss it when it's got to go back to Raven.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's really interesting. So we've just talked about three watches that are from brands that I bet a lot of people haven't even heard of. I mean, Manta, Unimatic, and Raven. I mean, they're just not names that are on the tip of a lot of watch guys' tongues, especially if you're just out in mixed company and somebody glances at your wrist at this cool watch you're wearing. And I think that's really exciting. I think it's really, you know, I think you and I have kind of both come up in this era of the so-called boutique diver, especially. Yeah, for sure. Just these watches with these, you know, from kind of you know, guys that just wanted to kind of strike out on their own and, you know, hats off to them. I think it's, I think it's all great stuff.
James Stacey I think they're all starting to find a certain stride. The Ravens, the Hallios, the Helsins, so many of the brands that we spoke about last week. Yeah. I'm sure there's just some literacy that comes with being around long enough and making many, many watches again and again, and learning the process and establishing the relationships you need to get things made. Yeah. To your standard. Yeah. And then I imagine once you spend a few years getting those kind of workflow things in place, you can really start to express yourself within the confines of that workflow, like to find true creativity. And I think that's what we see in watches like the Group B, like the Tropic, like the Trekker 40, like there's actually just a ton these days.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And I think it's a great time to be somebody who has less than a thousand dollars to spend on a dive watch. We kind of painted in the last episode. Yeah. You've always had great selection the more money you want to spend. Right. Right. But there's now just a like a real healthy range of options under a thousand dollars, whether you want to go with a proven Seiko route or any of now probably two dozen other routes into various dive watch styles and sizes.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I really get the sense that the guys that are running these companies, the Ravens, the Helioses, the Okanoskers, they're they're people that you can tell that there were fans, they're collectors, they're people that have spent a lot of time on forums and bought and sold a lot of watches of every price point. And they've, they've kind of learned what people like and what they like and what's good and what's not. And I think even four or five years ago, a lot of these so-called boutique or web brands were really hit or miss. And, and you'd get a watch that was, you know, $485 or $650. And, and there was a huge difference in scratchiness of the crown or wobbliness or timekeeping and I think just almost just, you know, evolution of the species has sort of honed this category and the really good ones have kind of stuck around or have emerged and I think it's the most exciting category in watches these days.
James Stacey Yeah, I would be inclined to agree and certainly there's some amazing stuff going on at the ultra expensive range. Yeah. You know, you're seeing some very interesting, uh, movement technologies just this past week from Armand Strom. Uh, just Google it. It's not something, the sort of thing we would cover on the Granado, but if you're a movement nerd, really crazy stuff. And I think on the other side, really at that pure enthusiast level, where it's less about the status and the cost and the marketing and who they're attached to and what celebrities are wearing it and all the things that kind of make up luxury, the luxury side of watch enthusiasm. Yeah. You find these brands are starting to thrive and turn out some really compelling product.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacey Very exciting. For sure. Anything else new or do we pretty much cover the handful of stuff we got in?
Jason Heaton No, I think we've got our marching orders for the next few weeks with these new watches.
James Stacey Yeah, no doubt. I got a bunch of video to shoot. Cool. All right. Well, we'll be back in just a minute with some new business. And we're back for some new business. Jason, you've been doing a little bit of traveling. You got to head out to the big city.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I got back last night from a trip to New York. I try to get out to New York about once a year. You know, most of the editors I write for and the brand reps from the watch companies and whatnot are based out there. So it's kind of nice to get a little face time. So I was out there for about four or five days and I really packed my schedule. pretty much got off the plane and went directly to... I just wanted to peek my head at the Hodinkee headquarters and see what that was all about. It was new to me. I had last visited Hodinkee's offices probably two years ago and they were in kind of a small space, but you know now it's pretty awesome. They've really grown. It's been really fun to kind of see what Hodinkee's been up to. Lately I met Stephen Pulverant. It was good to see him. Most of their Um, folks were out of the office traveling, but, uh, that was really fun. And then, and then that night I, I managed to hook up with the, the big, you know, the, the big Kahuna, uh, Red Bar group there in New York. And that was, that was really fun. So I went to the, you know, I attended Red Bar Wednesday night. Uh, I just, I just wore one watch. I had my 50th anniversary Doc's a sub and you know, festivities kicked off. Uh, I had a couple of, I had a couple, I think I had some gin and tonics and And, uh, I don't know, I would say there were probably, you know, 20 people that filtered in and out over the course of the night. It was kind of quiet by their standards, but it was, it was really fun to meet, meet some new people. I met, uh, John who runs Brew Watches, B-R-E-W. Okay, cool. Cool. You know, I, I hadn't really spent any time with their watches and I really still haven't spent any time with their watches, but he's a super nice guy. I finally met our, our friend of the show, Farlius. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, he was really fun. chatted a lot about the show and about watches. He had a really cool, uh, he's actually from Newfoundland. So fellow Canadian, uh, who had a really appropriate watch on, he was wearing a, like a nineties vintage Tudor Submariner that was an issued Canadian, uh, military piece, which was very fitting, but, but just a really neat watch. And he was super proud of that. So we, we spent a lot of time chatting and it was really good to meet him. So yeah, Red Bar, I went to a few boutiques while I was out there. I, I popped in at the IWC boutique, which is arguably one of the more fun boutiques for a guy to hang out in. You know, they've got an ejection seat and, you know, full, you know, pilots jackets for sale and leather couches and whiskey on, on offer and, um, just a lot of cool watches. And then just down the block is, is Bremont. And that was the first time I got to poke my head in that boutique. Last time I was in New York, they were just, just building it. Yeah. And that was, that was really fun. Uh, tried on a couple of watches and chatted with the guys there. And then kind of on the other side of the coin, I spent a little bit of time at the Rolex boutique there in New York. And, and it's, it, it's a pretty sterile affair. I mean, it's, it's, I wouldn't say it's, uh, it's as fun of a place to visit, but you know, I think if you're in New York and you're looking up at that giant Rolex building that's there, it's kind of a, kind of a must visit. And then one of the days I popped over to our buddies over at Analog Shift, and they moved into a new space recently, and it's killer. It was fun. It was like a clubhouse. I mean, they've got shift clocks on the wall, and they've got all this sort of watch ephemera, and a bookcase full of books about naval aviation, and the history of submarines, and old Doxa ads, and cases full of cool vintage watches. It was great. I mean, they rolled out the red carpet, You know, I hung out there for a few hours with with James and Jake and the whole gang there. Yeah, got to got to check out Adam Moore's little photography studio. So went out to lunch with those guys. So that that was that was really fun. I think, you know, this trip was all about kind of meeting old friends and meeting some new people. And then last Friday night, I had the opportunity to go across the East River to the docks over there and get a tour of a boat that fairly well known to a lot of people. It's, it belongs to the company called O-Search, which is, um, it was started by a guy named Chris Fisher, who has sort of pioneered the way that sharks are, are researched. And his claim to fame is he, he bought an old Bering Sea crab trawler or crab fishing boat. And it has a, an innovative sort of lift system that lowers a platform into the water alongside the boat.
James Stacey Oh, I've seen this.
Jason Heaton And then they bring, they bring the great white sharks up onto the platform, raise it out of the water and kind of pump water through its gills while scientists jump down and tag it and take, you know, blood and tissue samples and measure it and all that stuff. And then they lower it back in the water and release it. And then these satellite tags ping and track the sharks, you know, across the globe, wherever they go. And, and so, you know, just by chance through a mutual connection, uh, I got invited to go over and tour the boat and meet Chris Fisher. So cool. Yeah, it was really fun. And then to end the evening, you know, I had somewhere to be later in the night and rather than take a taxi back over the Brooklyn Bridge, Chris Fisher, you know, said, Hey, I'll bring you back the VIP way. So he pulled a little rib, like a little Zodiac boat to the back to the stern of the big O-Search boat. And I jumped on board and we whipped across the river. It was dark after dark, looking up at the skyline of New York and this like little zodiac whipping across the river and it was really cool, yeah.
James Stacey Man, that's killer.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it was fun. And then Saturday I pretty much spent the whole day at the Explorers Club for an event that they do annually. It's called Sea Stories and it's right up our alley, I guess. It's all tales of shipwrecks and ocean conservation and marine biology and And it was like five speakers throughout the course of the day. There was like a breakfast and a lunch in between and some cocktails afterwards. But I heard some really neat talks. The first guy who spoke was a guy named Jim Kennard who does shipwreck hunting out in Lake Ontario. And he's, I think his claim to fame is he discovered the oldest shipwreck in the Great Lakes, which is like a 1780s vintage Royal Navy British warship. Wow. Okay. you know, he uses side scan sonar and, and, um, ROV technology to, to find these wrecks and document them. And so his talk was good. And then there was a marine biologist from Bermuda who was talking about the dangers of long line fishing. They had, um, uh, kind of a fairly famous author named Susan Casey, who was talking about, uh, her work with, um, dolphins and, and, uh, rogue waves. And, um, and then I think kind of the, One of the coolest presentations of the day was a guy who was talking about the search for kind of the last known U-boat that has sunk in divable waters off the east coast of the US. And it was a U-boat, U-550, that sank an American oil tanker that was headed across the North Atlantic. And it sank the tanker, and then a destroyer actually depth-charged the submarine, and the crew escaped. and the U-boat sank, but it had never been found. So these guys were out. It was very shadow divers. And in fact, some of the guys that were on this expedition over like a three-year period were some of the same names that you see pop up in shadow divers. And I got to meet a couple of them. One of them was Tom Packer, and there was a guy named Steve Gatto, and they were there. And I got to kind of chat with these, you know, heroes from a book that is one of our favorites and that we've recommended to listeners in the past. And so it was, it was a really fun day. It was, it was great, fun to meet people. And the Explorers Club is always fun. They've got, you know, flags that have been to the moon and the bottom of the sea and, you know, just a lot of old artifacts around. So I was- Sounds like a killer Saturday. It was great. And then, and then I closed it out. I went, I went straight from there to a British pub to kick off a night of celebrating with our buddy, Mike Pearson from Bramont Watches, who is going to get married in about a month and And a few of us got together to kind of give him a little bachelor send off with a lot of drinking and some karaoke. So it was, yeah. What's your go-to choice? Well, I kicked it off with Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. I think it kind of... Ring of Fire? Wow. Yeah, it was... It really sets the tone? Yeah, it's just the right register for me, you know, low voice. Yeah, sure. But, you know, it was a good time, so... to give a shout out to Mike and wish him well as he heads into marriage here in about a month.
James Stacey Yeah, for sure. Best to Mike and his growing family. That's excellent.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then just quickly, I got a chance to kind of give a real world test drive to that Uniqlo comfort sport coat that we were talking about a few weeks ago. And I wore it. I had kind of a full day where I was meeting some brand reps and editors and And I thought, you know, I needed to bring a sport coat for that, but I wasn't going to wear it for the whole trip. So I folded up this sport jacket, put it in my suitcase and pulled it out on, uh, I guess it was last Thursday and I wore it all day. It was super comfy. I really, really grew to love it. I'm not a sport coat guy, but, uh, if you have to wear a coat and you're traveling with it, it was, it was great. It kind of wears like a cardigan. It's super light, breathes really well, moves nicely. Um, so, you know, I'm not going to go on, about a sport coat like I would like a backpack or a pair of boots or something. But, uh, look, if you need a sport coat, um, you could do a far worse than this $65 Uniqlo. Um, so.
James Stacey Yeah. And they're bound to have some, uh, Christmas sales coming up pretty soon too. Oh, totally. Just watch their site.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Anyway, that's, that's my news. What's, uh, what's the latest with you?
James Stacey Yeah. I don't have a lot of new stuff going on. You know, it's kind of the rainy season in Vancouver. Um, I bought a new TV, but that doesn't feel that interesting. I did, um, Yeah, a further testament to my poor sense of timing when it comes to the things we talk about on the show, the day after we recorded the last episode in which I spoke at length about my want for an Autodromo Group B, I went out and got one. Oh, nice. So I got one from a local retailer in Vancouver, Roald Dorf & Co. carries them. And, you know, I got to help WorldOrf do a little event with Nomos a little while ago. They launched Nomos in Vancouver as one of the only Canadian ADs and service and all that. It's a great shop. I really like the people there and they carry Autodromo. So I'm now the proud owner of a Group B, the yellow one, the base model, steel and titanium case, yellow dial, no date, of course.
Unknown And I
James Stacey I really like it. You know, I've had that, you know, we spoke with the Manta and the Raven and those have been taking up most of my time as far as wrist time goes, but I've had the, uh, I've had kind of my evenings with the Group B and I absolutely adore it. It's such a great palette cleanser for someone who normally wears your more traditional sport watch shape and size.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey It's super thin. It weighs nothing. It works on their kind of seatbelt style strap, which is a, you know, a single piece. Nylon with you can flip it over one way or another so it can have the kind of yellow autodromo seat belt Patch or not and then it works fine on a toxic. It works, you know on a on your standard 20 millimeter NATO and I just really like it. It's a Very legible and I like that the you know, the all the dial marking is loomed including the little group B text Oh, well, so if you hit it with a UV or you know some great sunlight, which we're not getting any of in Vancouver currently. It glows quite brightly, but it wears like nothing else I have around. So like I said, it's just a great palette cleanser. And I really like the watch a lot. The, you know, packaging that comes in is really cool and kind of clever. And it's, you know, I talked about it a bunch on the last episode, so we won't do it again, but I'm thrilled to have it, you know, around and on wrist and just enjoying it.
Jason Heaton That's great. I mean, that, that you, you got exactly the one I would get to that, that gray with the yellow is, uh, just such a great combination. And again, it just goes back to what we were talking about earlier in the show. It's this category, um, of these micro brands or boutique brands, uh, that these various price points, they're just, I don't know. I think, I think the big brands need to really pay attention to what's going on here because it's, uh, it's exciting stuff. That's, that's really awesome.
James Stacey Yeah, for sure. I totally agree. I think it's a great example of, you know, what we were talking about in that last episode. And if you have any questions about the Manta, the Raven, the Explorers Club, I don't know, anything from the show, send them our way, thegreatnadoatgmail.com. I think that's about all we got for new business, right? Yeah. Why don't we jump into final notes? Super. Let's do it. So what have you got to share this week? Anything fun?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I've got something kind of cool. It's actually a book recommendation. Oh, fun. Okay. Yeah, I got this novel, um, work of fiction from a guy who you can actually find on Instagram. And I think that's how I connected with him initially. Uh, he goes by dive writer, uh, D I V E W R I T E R. So at dive writer, uh, his real name is Pierre Gobinet, unless that's his nom de plume, but I'm not, uh, I'm not entirely sure, but that's, that's the name on the book cover. Uh, the book is called the freelancers and, uh, You know, I'm a big fan of the sort of old original Ian Fleming Bond novels, and there's just, there's not a lot, I think, that's kind of hit the same chord that I've read in terms of kind of the pace and kind of the feel of it. But I get the sense that Pierre is kind of a similar mindset, and he kind of, he's really captured that sense of intrigue and adventure um in in sort of a slightly it's kind of like a pulp thriller style book along the lines of kind of the old 60s or 50s and 60s bond novels but it's not as grim and the plot is not nearly as far-fetched uh you know as as the bond ones there are no you know sort of missile bases underground or anything like that um the the the basic plot is is it's like a french police officer and i think from what Pierre told me, it's somewhat autobiographical, I guess, a French police officer who quits his job because he wants to become a dive instructor. And so he takes his leave of the police force and he does, you know, his instructor training in the south of France. And then he moves to a Red Sea resort town in Egypt. And there's, you know, there's a woman involved, there's some intrigue, there's a real tie in with current events or recent historical events that ends up being really believable. And then it's mixed in with this, you know, this, this cool, there's a lot of, I mean, the book is, it's, it's a dive book. I mean, there's a lot of dive references and dive gear and underwater adventure. I mean, it's, it's kind of like a Thunderball or something, you know, you're reading this and you know, he's talking about, you know, obsolete French military rebreathers and, and uh, whatever, but I think it would be very accessible to even someone who doesn't dive. I think it just sort of captures that adventure diving vibe that I feel has really been missing. And so I've read all but about the last 50 pages of the book, and I've hardly been able to put it down. I brought it to New York and kind of read it on the flight to New York and on the way back. I can't recommend it enough. It's got a great photo on the cover. There's like a woman with her back turned holding a spear gun. She's wearing she's wearing fins and a wetsuit.
Unknown Okay.
Jason Heaton And it just it really kind of has that 60s sort of spy thriller pulp fiction sort of look to it. So yeah freelancers there's there's like an e-book version and then and then I got the paperback so I can't recommend it enough. I think it's you know it's fairly affordable you can find it we'll put a link in the show notes and you know good luck to Pierre and thanks to him for for sending me a review copy of the book. I really appreciate it and Yeah, go out and buy the Freelancers. Support an aspiring novelist. I think he's done a great job for his first effort.
James Stacey Yeah, I don't normally read fiction, but that sounds like a lot of fun and something that I think, again, would be kind of like a fun palate cleanser from the norm. I think you'd love it. Of all the blogs and the kind of more technical stuff that I like to read, depending on the topic. So I may chase down the e-book version and just see if I can read it on my phone. Yeah, sounds pretty cool. So, uh, so my final note for this week is actually just one thing. It's brand new on Netflix and since it was definitely added to Netflix Canada, I'm going to assume it's available on most Netflix's if not all. It's a series produced with Canon, the camera manufacturer and Netflix, and it's called Tales by Light and it's six episodes. I want to say they're like about 40 minutes long and each episode basically follows the project or kind of workspace of an adventure photographer that shoots Canon. And I guess you could loosely think of it as a big ad, but they never go into any technical detail. Like they never tell you what camera they're using, et cetera. Yeah. And sometimes the cameras are like fully obscured by underwater cases and different things like that. Sure. It's a little subtle that way, but You know, like I like I mentioned previously, I got a new TV and it's kind of a large TV with a 4k panel. And on Netflix, you can just look at just at what's available in 4k and it's fun to watch stuff. It looks unbelievable. It's so clear. Nice. And so when I originally saw one of the kind of adventure blogs or photo blogs, I guess that I follow posted this was coming up on the 11th. And I figured, oh, it's probably won't be on Canada immediately. And then on Saturday on the 12th, I was just kind of clicking around and saw it. And I was like, Oh, I think I'll watch the first one. It was short. It was about, uh, an underwater photographer. That's kind of famous for his shots of, uh, humpback whales and to see him working in that space. And then in such a high resolution, it's bonkers. I would really love that experience of diving, um, even shallowly with, uh, humpback whales. Wow. And he does that. And then he does an amazing wreck dive and photo project on a biplane wreck. Oh, wow. Really fantastic story. And then it carries on for a series of episodes that kind of span adventure photography, nature photography, kind of social photography. And it's all like shot, beautifully shot, fully kind of in the element documentary style. And I can't I can't recommend it enough if you've got some time. I actually just sat and watched all six. I got kind of hooked in. Wow. And I needed a little break from putting my mind on doing something like constructive.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And that's what I did for an evening was I watched all of these and they're, uh, they're great. So that's Tales by Light on Netflix. I'll mention it in the show notes, but I don't know how to link to something in Netflix. Just go to Netflix and search Tales by Light. I think, uh, I think anybody that, that listens to the show, this is, this would fall into the vein of cool things that I think you'll enjoy. Certainly really fun nature angle.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I'm definitely going to check that out. I find that, you know, even though you're kind of mainly on input when you're watching stuff like this, um, and maybe quote unquote being unproductive, uh, I find that it kind of recharges my batteries to watch shows like that because it, you know, it inspires you. It kind of peps you up to like get creative or, or, you know, get adventurous or go do something. So that's really great.
James Stacey Yeah, I think like it can work that way for me. I think with this I actually have it written in our notes that I'm reading on the screen now is that it kind of demolished my mood for the last few days.
Unknown Oh no.
James Stacey So like I watched this and now I'm just really really wanting adventure and I want like an excuse to do something really creative and fun with my camera and I know that like those two things don't have to be together. You don't have to fly somewhere special to take an interesting photograph. Yeah. Certainly I'm relatively spoiled where I live for things to shoot. Um, but yeah, it was just, you know, I think I watched it kind of at the, the precipice of quite a few days of it raining quite a lot in Vancouver and just kind of being stuck inside or when I am outside, you know, dealing with the rain and it's many moods. Yeah. And, uh, and now, so now I'm, I'm, I'm just, it's been kind of rolling around in my head, all these amazing scenes and, and all these cool things that they were doing while applying kind of a creative eye to that, to that experience.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And it's just kind of like zoned me 20% out of everything I've done since I watched it. But yeah, I would agree with what you said, but sometimes not so much. It just depends on my mood. Well, I guess that about does it for us. What do you say? Yeah, I think that's a pretty good show. We kind of covered a bunch of stuff, obviously plenty of watches. So as always, thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton at J E Stacey, and you can follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGraynado at gmail.com and please subscribe and review the show wherever you find your podcasts, or you can grab the feed directly from TheGraynado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazza by The Free Music Archive.
Jason Heaton And until next time, we leave you with the quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, which came to us from listener Chris. Thanks, Chris. Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.